Welcome to Pawsitively Intrepid's National Park Adventure

Have you ever wanted to take a great American road trip with your dog? So did I! But the timing never seemed right. Then the perfect life opportunity came to take a few months off in between jobs. Inspired by some great blog posts written during the celebration of the United States National Parks’ 100th year, Glia and I have planned a 3 month road trip to visit all 46 of the National Parks in the contiguous United States.

Since we can’t drive to them, we have excluded Dry Tortugas (several miles off the coast of Florida), as well as the parks in Alaska, Hawaii, the Virgin Islands, and American Samoa. Additionally, our visits to 2 of the 46 National Parks (Channel Islands and Isle Royale National Parks) will be limited to visiting the mainland headquarters. In addition to not being able to drive to these island parts of these parks, both Channel Islands and Isle Royale have protected ecosystems and do not allow dogs. But we do hope to find nearby dog-friendly activities to share with our readers.

As we visit each National Park, we will be creating a blog post with information on exploring that National Park with pets. If the park is not that pet-friendly, we will aim to provide some alternative hiking trails and activities to explore. If you are looking for a brief overview of the national parks and their pet regulations, read our post – National Parks and Your Pet. For more in-depth information about each park, follow the links below.

There were two main road trip routes that we considered for this journey. The first was a trip plan created by Randal Olson and can be found here.

The second trip route, and the one that we choose to mostly follow, is this one (pictured on the left side of the screen), created by Travis Tamez for Isle Box.

This trip route is technically longer than the route by Randal Olson. However, this 2nd route means exploring Utah earlier in the spring when the temperatures are more moderate. It also provides a convenient access point for a couple of the visitors who will be joining Glia and I on our trip.

Since Glia and I want to RV the western half of the United States and backpack the eastern half, we broke this route down into 2 main road trips and 3 small ones.